Light bike, fat bastard, heavy bike, slim(er) bastard?

Hey Y'all,

So the mighty iguanadon ancient geared mountain bike lock in the street when at work still there when you get back hack is nearing one of her periodical replace all the worn out bits times and I thought I would canvas opinions.

Do heavy bikes make you thinner?

The iguanadon is nowhere near as nice to ride as the Bob (fixed) or the Condor (geared), slower, more tiring but of course much less stealable.

I have another couple of frames stashed that could be built up into good but scruffy commuter hacks, but here is the rub:

With commuting time being both my main cycle pleasure time and also my main exercise I have a dilemma between cycling pleasure (build up a lighter better ride) and maximizing my limited fitness by continuing to commute on a bike that is so heavy it bends gravity as it passes.

Pleasure vs fitness.

Unanswerable question I know but hey, bring on the wisdom....

You will get thinner on the nice light bike because you will enjoy riding it, so you will ride it a lot more and ride it faster. You will never ride the fat mountain bike. Eventually it will be stolen and you won't care.

well that's how was for me.

Build up a fix hack with a spinny gear, 68GI or around that - the spinning will keep you fit and it will be fun to ride. It also wont fuck your knees

Build up a fix hack with a spinny gear, 68GI or around that - the spinning will keep you fit and it will be fun to ride. It also wont fuck your knees

+1
reps > resistance.

Lifes to short, and cycling time too sparse, to be wasted on poor-riding bikes.

....(IMHO)

Lifes to short, and cycling time too sparse, to be wasted on poor-riding bikes.

....(IMHO)

Agreed. Splash out every penny you have (and as many that you don't have as the bank will let you) on a fine steed.
The pleasure you will derive from riding it will far outweigh the gloom created by hunger and balifs.
Just don't let it get nicked.

Agreed. Splash out every penny you have (and as many that you don't have as the bank will let you) on a fine steed.
The pleasure you will derive from riding it will far outweigh the gloom created by hunger and balifs.
Just don't let it get nicked.

cheap bikes from legit brands ride well! In any event - don't ride the mountain bike. Life is too short and that... If you want to ride the fancy bikes just get insurance...

^ +1

The great thing about fitness advice is that there is an article written somewhere prooving doing virtually anything will work, as long as you do it frquently!

my current theory that im buying into is that high reps with low resistance increases your base metabolic rate, so im doing my 10 mile commute on 63 gear inches.

Light as feck bike

• heavy as feck bikelock
  
  

sorted :)

My bike isn't especially light but it has good hubs. That's my compromise - as long as the hubs work really well, and of course you have a decent BB then the ride is easier than before. I can now testify to this as I had been riding the same bike on what I discovered was a crushed bearing in the front hub and they both needed to be rebuilt and I just said F it! and got better wheels. Now I like riding even more than before!

^ +1

The great thing about fitness advice is that there is an article written somewhere prooving doing virtually anything will work, as long as you do it frquently!

my current theory that im buying into is that high reps with low resistance increases your base metabolic rate, so im doing my 10 mile commute on 63 gear inches.

You do look like you've lost weight... :)

i'd get a lighter bike and ride it often. as some of the comment above have mentioned, spinning on lower GI will increase your aerobic fitness, which will, in turn, make you more efficient burning calories in general whether on or off the bike.

but you also mentioned nickability, and i can testify, nobody will want to nick your the Iguanadon.

Cheers for that Hovis, next time we ride I'll take it off the leash and let it hump your ride!

Cheers for the comments, just to clarify I already have 2 nice bikes built up, the Bob and the Condor mentioned above, but no way would I lock them outside, I love them to much.

[URL="http://www.maniacworld.com/dog-has-a-licking-problem.jpg"][/URL]
But maybe just maybe after nigh on 20 years the iguanadon can be consigned to the occasional ride pile.

X

Ride the bike that you will ride the most - It will lead to you losing weight. I'm a chubbster and my first build has lead to me ride a lot more that before.

Good advice.

Ride the bike that you will ride the most - It will lead to you losing weight. I'm a chubbster and my first build has lead to me ride a lot more that before.

• 1
  
  

you have to enjoy riding it.

....and lay off the pies eh?

I found I lost loads of weight when I switched to ss from gears.. I also rode much more..

..and then when I changed from ss to fixed, my thighs got super awesome ;)

heavier bikes, in my case my tourer, just makes me ride slower, but the effort i apply is the same. so i can't see why it would make you thinner.

ride the nice bike, im sure you have passed me on your mountain bike and i have thought what a twat think about all the negative thoughts being directed at you, you are ruining so many other peoples commutes. Ride a nice bike we can all drool over and hate you because we are jealous a much better scenario for you surely!

heavier bikes, in my case my tourer, just makes me ride slower, but the effort i apply is the same. so i can't see why it would make you thinner.

that got me thinking of one thing - wind resistance, the faster you go the more wind resistence (obviously) and because of the wind resistance, you'd need to able to keep up your cadence as much as possible.

going slowly on a heavy bike will probably make you sweat a lots but I doubt it would get you as fit as you can on a fixed/singlespeed bicycle.

Or I could be talking bollocks.

I thought the title would be about CrazyJames. Now I have to put my popcorn back :(

i dont know anything about the physical science but i have some annecdotal evidence from my own riding. im 6'2ish and have mainly been about 12 stone scince puberty until very recently.

when i started riding alot i had a very heavy viscount road bike converted to SS. it was a weighty beast but had nice fast wheels. i didnt noticably lose any weight, but my thighs grew big (compared to before) after some months commuting daily. at this point i didnt relly do recreational riding.

i then got my fuji track which i ride fixed. a much lighter bike, which i ended up riding alot more becuase it was such a better ride and i could do longer distances. i used to do 25-40mile recreational rides max. didnt noticably lose any weight, but my thighs reduced in size and became more defined.

4 months or somthing ago i got my geared roadbike. i dont know the weight but it feels around the same as the fuji. i now do alot more miles. ive lost about a stone, and ive developed alot of muscle in my calves that was never there before. my thighs are about the same.

conclusion-
the more you ride the thinner you get, and in my experience bikes with one gear utilise my thights alot more than the calves.